In general, a wireless communication system may facilitate authentication procedures between a network and a device attempting to access the network. Different networks may have different authentication procedures. A device may include security credentials used to authenticate the device prior to providing access to the network. In some systems, confidential communications may utilize security credentials that are stored in a module on the device, and that couple the device to a host network. For example, the widely used Authentication and Key Agreement (AKA) protocol relies on a symmetric root key (K) that is securely shared between the device (e.g., a removable Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM)) and the network (e.g., Home Subscriber Server (HSS)). Other networks may be capable of providing other types of cryptographic assurances to realize secure exchanges.
In existing wireless networks that use AKA, there is a risk that if a long term root key (e.g., K) is compromised, the confidentiality of all past communications may be compromised. That is, an attacker may capture past encrypted communications and decrypt it once the long-term rook key (K) is compromised. There is also a risk that networks which are capable of providing different levels of cryptographic assurances (e.g., weak and strong), may be vulnerable to a man-in-the-middle attack such that a strong cryptographic assurance may be bid down to a weaker solution.